Here's your green things in nature fact of the day. I've talked about green reptiles, amphibians, insects and birds this past week. What about a green mammal? There are no mammals with truly green fur, but sloths are green due to algae that grows exclusively on their fur. It gives them much needed camouflage. They live almost entirely in trees, but come to the ground once a week to poop. There are sloth moths that only live in the sloths fur. They lay eggs in the sloth's poop and then fly back up to their sloth. Whether the sloths know it or not, they are helping the moths by risking their lives to poop on the ground where they are more vulnerable to predators. What do the sloths get out of all of this? By helping the moths reproduce, they increase the number of moths. Sloths with more moths have more algae because as the moths decompose in the sloth's fur, it encourages algae growth. More algae means better camouflage. #green #sloths #natureclub #moths

Posted by Mel Grosvenor at 2021-03-21 11:48:48 UTC